COTTONWOOD – The Cottonwood Police Department recently received $30,000 in grant-in-aid funding from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety for DUI and traffic safety enforcement.

According to a news release from Detective Sergeant Tod Moore, the grants were awarded Oct. 1 and will be funded through Sept. 30. The department will use $10,000 to fund officers’ overtime to conduct Selective Traffic Enforcement Patrols (STEP), said Cottonwood Police. These STEP’s focus on a variety of safety-related moving violations and traffic offenses. The remaining $20,000 will go to fund officers’ overtime to conduct more year-round DUI Saturation Patrols and Checkpoints, according to the release.

The goal of the selective enforcement and DUI patrols, said Sgt. Moore, are not only to locate violators of the law but to also increase public awareness and remind motorists of traffic laws, which serve a purpose to reduce and prevent vehicle accidents and fatalities.

-Jennifer Kucich

DPS awarded over $365,875 in federal grant funding for FY 2017

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Public Safety has received a total of $365,875 in federal grant monies for fiscal year 2017 from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).

The Department will utilize the monies to help pay for overtime expenditures incurred during special details for DUI enforcement, DUI training, seat belt and child safety-seat enforcement, ground and air speed enforcement, and distracted driving enforcement, according to a release.

The Department will utilize a portion of the monies to purchase speed and DUI enforcement equipment.

AZDPS Assistant Director, Lt. Col. Daniel Lugo said, “We thank GOHS Director Alberto Gutier and GOHS for their continued partnership in the promotion of highway and public safety through education and enforcement.”

PHOENIX – There is the misconception that a driver should stay put after a fender bender. Arizona Department of Transportation says that is dangerous, and creates hazardous slowing and lane changes for all drivers; it also increases the risk for emergency responders.

ADOT and the Department of Public Safety wants the public to know about the practice of Quick Clearance. In this practice, drivers involved in minor crashes that don’t involve injuries get their vehicles out of the travel lanes as soon as it is safe to do so, said ADOT.

A vehicle crash occurs almost every five minutes in Arizona, and ADOT said everyone should know how to best stay safe following a minor, non-injury collision.

Reasons for practicing Quick Clearance begin with a state law that requires a driver involved in a minor crash without injuries to remove a vehicle from the roadway if it is operable and can be moved safely. Doing this is safer for drivers involved in the crash, fellow motorists and emergency responders, stated a news release from ADOT.

Of the 29 DPS troopers killed in the line of duty, 11 were struck and killed in secondary crashes on state highways.

-Jennifer Kucich

Applications accepted for Yavapai College’s District 3 representative

VERDE VALLEY – Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter is looking to fill the Yavapai College District Governing Board vacancy created with the November resignation of District 3 Representative Al Filardo, effective Dec. 1.

District 3 covers the communities of Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Jerome and the Village of Oak Creek, as well as the Yavapai County portion of Sedona.

Anyone interested in serving on the college board should send a letter of interest and a resume either by mail, fax or email. Correspondence should be sent to: Mr. Tim Carter, Yavapai County School Superintendent, Yavapai County Education Service Agency, 2970 Centerpointe East, Prescott, AZ 86301. Or fax to: 928-771-3329. Or Email: Tim.carter@yavapai.us.

Eligible candidates should include information about themselves, such as their level of education, job and family, and why they are interested in becoming a board member. Candidates also need to provide their physical and mailing addresses, email address, and phone numbers.

Eligible candidates are also encouraged to include letters of recommendation.

Letters of interest must be received by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25. YCESA will provide a brief description of the candidates to the public on Monday, Nov. 28.

Superintendent Carter and an advisory committee of five individuals is scheduled to interview candidates at the Yavapai County Building’s Verde Room in Cottonwood on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Address is 10 S. 6th St. in Cottonwood.

The committee, with each member a District 3 resident, will include a Yavapai College student and faculty member, as well as a business person, taxpayer and community member.

Once candidates have been interviewed, the committee will make an official recommendation to Superintendent Carter for his consideration.

For additional feedback, Superintendent Carter will then meet individually with the college administration, as well as with each of the four remaining District Governing Board members.

Superintendent Carter will also accept public comment from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 at the Mingus Room of the Yavapai County Building.

By Monday, Dec. 12, the District 3 Representative appointment is expected to be announced. The appointment would remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2018.

Contact Superintendent Carter at 928-925-6560 or Tim.Carter@yavapai.us for more information.

-Bill Helm

Cottonwood-Oak Creek approves 301 pay plan

COTTONWOOD – Nov. 15, the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District unanimously agreed to accept the district’s proposal of a plan to distribute Proposition 301 Teacher Performance Pay Plan money to teachers based on the Capturing Kids Hearts program.

A motivational program that engages students through both their social and their emotional intelligence, Capturing Kids Hearts believes that “If you have a child’s heart, you have a child’s mind.”

Each year at Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District, much of the proposition’s 0.6 percent sales tax revenue is included into teachers’ salaries, according to COCSD Assistant Superintendent Steve King. This year, earning the additional pay will be connected to how individual teachers capture the hearts of their young students.